A Knowledge-Based Approach To Spacecraft Distributed Modeling And Simulation

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is developing a knowledge-based approach to spacecraft distributed modeling and simulation and to sustaining design knowledge. We define an object-oriented decomposition of a virtual spacecraft into both functional and physical classes, and standardize the class methods. Simulations of spacecraft components inherit from the classes and implement the standard methods as well as their own special methods. Federated simulations of spacecraft system designs can integrate multiple component simulations in a plug-and-play fashion through the standard interfaces. We also define a knowledge-based architecture that captures and synthesizes the object-oriented standards, component simulation descriptions, and designs of spacecraft systems. Software tools extract abstract simulation specifications from the knowledge base and create files that drive platform-specific federated simulations. Finally, we define a knowledge-based approach to sustaining design and design process knowledge to facilitate the design process of current and future spacecraft. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.